The Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Workgroup: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Enters the Age of Large-Scale Genomic Collaboration

Mark W Logue; Ananda B Amstadter; Dewleen G Baker; Laramie Duncan; Karestan C Koenen; Israel Liberzon; Mark W Miller; Rajendra A Morey; Caroline M Nievergelt; Kerry J Ressler; Alicia K Smith; Jordan W Smoller; Murray B Stein; Jennifer A Sumner; Monica Uddin

doi:10.1038/npp.2015.118

The Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Workgroup: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Enters the Age of Large-Scale Genomic Collaboration

Neuropsychopharmacology. 2015 Sep;40(10):2287-97. doi: 10.1038/npp.2015.118. Epub 2015 Apr 23.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ 1] Research, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA [2] Biomedical Genetics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA [3] Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
² Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
³ 1] Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA [2] VA San Diego Healthcare System, VA Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health (CESAMH), La Jolla, CA, USA.
⁴ 1] Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA [2] Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA [3] Medical and Population Genetics Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ 1] Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI [2] Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Health System, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁷ 1] National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA [2] Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
⁸ 1] Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA [2] Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA [3] Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center for Post Deployment Mental Health, Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
⁹ 1] Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA [2] Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA, USA [3] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
¹¹ 1] Center of Human Genetics Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA [2] Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA [3] Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
¹² Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
¹³ 1] Carl R Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA [2] Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA.

Abstract

The development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is influenced by genetic factors. Although there have been some replicated candidates, the identification of risk variants for PTSD has lagged behind genetic research of other psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, autism, and bipolar disorder. Psychiatric genetics has moved beyond examination of specific candidate genes in favor of the genome-wide association study (GWAS) strategy of very large numbers of samples, which allows for the discovery of previously unsuspected genes and molecular pathways. The successes of genetic studies of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have been aided by the formation of a large-scale GWAS consortium: the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). In contrast, only a handful of GWAS of PTSD have appeared in the literature to date. Here we describe the formation of a group dedicated to large-scale study of PTSD genetics: the PGC-PTSD. The PGC-PTSD faces challenges related to the contingency on trauma exposure and the large degree of ancestral genetic diversity within and across participating studies. Using the PGC analysis pipeline supplemented by analyses tailored to address these challenges, we anticipate that our first large-scale GWAS of PTSD will comprise over 10 000 cases and 30 000 trauma-exposed controls. Following in the footsteps of our PGC forerunners, this collaboration-of a scope that is unprecedented in the field of traumatic stress-will lead the search for replicable genetic associations and new insights into the biological underpinnings of PTSD.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
Review

MeSH terms

Cooperative Behavior
Genetic Predisposition to Disease*
Genome-Wide Association Study*
Genomics
Humans
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / genetics*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding